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Mike Amesbury

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Mike Amesbury
MP
Official portrait, 2024
Member of Parliament
for Runcorn and Helsby
Weaver Vale (2017–2024)
Incumbent
Assumed office
8 June 2017
Preceded byGraham Evans
Majority14,696 (34.8%)
Member of Manchester City Council
for Fallowfield
In office
4 May 2006 – 26 June 2017
Preceded byJohn-Paul Wilkins
Succeeded byAli Ilyas
Personal details
Born
Michael Lee Amesbury

(1969-05-07) 7 May 1969 (age 55)
Wythenshawe, Manchester, England
Political partyLabour[a]
Alma materBradford University (BA)
University of Central England (PGDip)
WebsiteOfficial website

Michael Lee Amesbury (born 7 May 1969) is a British politician serving as Member of Parliament (MP) for Runcorn and Helsby, previously Weaver Vale, since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, he has been suspended pending a police investigation since October 2024.

Amesbury began working as a careers adviser and later became a Labour Party officer. He has been a political adviser to Greater Manchester politicians including Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner. He served as a Member of Manchester City Council from 2006 to 2017 and an Executive Member from 2008 to 2012.

In Parliament, he shadowed several ministerial roles in the departments for Work and Pensions and Levelling Up, Housing and Communities between 2018 and 2024.

Early life and education

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Michael Lee Amesbury was born on 7 May 1969 in Wythenshawe, Manchester.[1] He moved to Castleford in West Yorkshire at a young age, where he was educated at Castleford High School. He joined the Labour Party in the late 1980s, having been politicised by the miners' strikes.[2]

Amesbury studied at Ilkley College, where he was awarded Bachelor of Arts degree in Community Studies from Bradford University in 1993. He was president of the Ilkley College students' union from 1993 to 1994, and founded its Labour Party society. In 1996, he received a Postgraduate Diploma in Careers Guidance from the University of Central England in Birmingham.[3]

Early career

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Amesbury worked as a careers advisor in Birmingham after receiving his postgraduate degree.[2] He became an officer for the North West Labour Party from 1999 until 2003, when returned to careers advice as a manager at Connexions.

Amesbury was first elected to Manchester City Council in 2006, defeating the incumbent Liberal Democrat councillor in Fallowfield.[4] He served as the Council's Executive Member for Culture and Leisure from 2008 to 2012, working full-time in the role.[5] He was a member of Labour's National Policy Forum from 2010 to 2015, and served as a councillor until his resignation in 2017.[6]

Amesbury returned to North West Labour as an events and fundraising manager in 2013, having previously worked as a project manager at The Manchester College. He was a policy adviser at Tameside Council from 2014 until 2015, when he became an adviser to Tameside MP Angela Rayner. He worked for Andy Burnham from 2016 to 2017, supporting the MP and later his Greater Manchester mayoral campaign.

Parliamentary career

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First term

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Amesbury was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Weaver Vale at the 2017 general election.[7] He defeated the incumbent Conservative MP, Graham Evans, with almost 52% of the vote.

Amesbury has described his politics as "left of centre" and "pragmatic Labour".[2] He supports electoral reform including proportional representation, and voted to remain in the 2016 EU membership referendum.[8]

From 2017 to 2018, Amesbury was a member of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee. He was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to Debbie Abrahams, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, in January 2018. He was promoted to become Shadow Employment Minister in July 2018.

In 2019, Amesbury apologised 'unreservedly' for having shared an antisemitic caricature on Facebook in 2013.[9] He claimed that he didn't recall sharing the post, but was 'mortified' and wouldn't have done so intentionally.

Second term

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At the 2019 general election, he was re-elected to represent Weaver Vale with a majority of 562 votes over the Conservative candidate.

Amesbury was appointed Shadow Housing and Planning Minister in April 2020, which was reduced to Housing following a May 2021 reshuffle.[10][11] He changed roles to become Shadow Local Government Minister in November 2021, but resigned in June 2022 to focus on his constituency work.[12] He was a member of the Transport Committee from 2022 until 2023, when he returned to the front bench as Shadow Building Safety and Homelessness Minister in September.[13]

Amesbury passed the Education (Guidance about Costs of School Uniforms) Act in April 2021, having introduced the legislation as a private member's bill the previous year.[14] The legislation sought to reduce the cost of school uniforms.

In July 2023, a 56-year-old man was convicted of stalking and harassing Amesbury between June and August 2022.[15] The man's sentence included a restraining order.[16]

Third term

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Amesbury was elected to represent Runcorn and Helsby at the 2024 general election, following the abolition of its predecessor Weaver Vale constituency.[17] Elected with a majority of almost 15,000, his notional majority from 2019 had been over 5,000 under the new boundaries.[18]

Following his election, he returned to the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee and joined the Modernisation Committee.

At about 2:15 am on 26 October 2024, Amesbury was filmed in Frodsham confronting a man who was lying on the ground.[19] Amesbury shouted: "You won't threaten the MP ever again, will you?" Cheshire Police stated that an assault had been reported and that no arrests had been made.[20] Prior footage was subsequently released of Amesbury punching the man to the ground, and of his directing more punches as the man lay prone.[21]

Pending an investigation into the incident, the Labour Party administratively suspended Amesbury's party membership and parliamentary whip.[22][21] Witnesses later said that the man had initially engaged Amesbury in a conversation about a local bridge which would be closed during winter, before the men's interactions became "heated".[19] Maxine Thompson-Curl, director of the One Punch UK charity, whose son died after being punched in the head in 2011, said she could not bear to watch the CCTV footage of the incident.[23]

Personal life

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Amesbury is married and has a son.[24] His wife is from Runcorn, Cheshire. His family own a dog named Corbyn and a cat named Marx.[25] He is a supporter of Manchester United F.C.[2]

He suffered from depression in the late 2000s, which resulted in behaviour of 'self-destruction' and almost ended his marriage.[26] Amesbury has since received medical support for depression.

Notes

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  1. ^ Membership suspended since October 2024.

References

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  1. ^ "No. 61961". The London Gazette. 19 June 2017. p. 11780.
  2. ^ a b c d "Interview with Mike Amesbury MP". TalkPolitics. 7 October 2017. Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  3. ^ "Amesbury, Mike". Who's Who. Vol. 2018 (February 2018 online ed.). A & C Black. Retrieved 14 February 2018. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  4. ^ "Election results - Local elections 2006 | Manchester City Council". www.manchester.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  5. ^ "Mather & Co scores with National Football Museum contract". Manchester Evening News. 21 September 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  6. ^ Amesbury, Mike (7 July 2017). "The Register of Members' Financial Interests". UK Parliament.
  7. ^ "Election results 2017: Labour gains Weaver Vale, Warrington South and Crewe and Nantwich". BBC News. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  8. ^ McDougall, John (12 November 2019). "Here's the Labour candidate's policies for Weaver Vale". Chester Chronicle. Retrieved 25 April 2020.
  9. ^ Sugarman, Daniel (13 March 2019). "Labour Shadow Minister Mike Amesbury apologises for sharing 'antisemitic caricature' – after denying he had". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  10. ^ "Mike Amesbury given shadow ministerial role by new Labour leader". Northwich Guardian. 14 April 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  11. ^ Rodgers, Sienna (14 May 2021). "Reshuffle: Keir Starmer's new Labour frontbench in full". LabourList. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  12. ^ "Mike Amesbury MP resigns from shadow minister role". BBC News. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  13. ^ Gayne, Daniel (24 June 2024). "Who's who in Labour's would-be cabinet". Intelligence for Architects. Building Design. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  14. ^ Murphy, Scott (30 April 2021). "Northwich MP explains the purpose of his school uniform bill". Northwich Guardian. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Stalker harassed Mike Amesbury MP in shopping centre and Costa Coffee". BBC News. 24 July 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  16. ^ "MP Mike Amesbury's stalker handed a restraining order". BBC News. 18 August 2023. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  17. ^ "Runcorn and Helsby Results - General Election 2024". BBC News. Retrieved 9 July 2024.
  18. ^ "UK Parliament election results: Notional election for the constituency of Runcorn and Helsby on 12 December 2019". UK Parliament election results. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  19. ^ a b Kampfner, Constance (28 October 2024). "Man punched by Mike Amesbury in argument about bridge is named". The Times. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
  20. ^ Jahangir, Rumeana; Farley, Harry (26 October 2024). "MP row is matter for police, says Phillipson". BBC News. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  21. ^ a b Whannel, Kate; Farley, Harry (27 October 2024). "Labour suspends MP after CCTV appears to show him punching man". BBC News. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  22. ^ Haslam, Ben; Thorp, Liam (27 October 2024). "Labour suspends Runcorn MP Mike Amesbury over punch video". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  23. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8xnn7vp8zo
  24. ^ "Cockapoo named Corbyn tops Westminster dog vote". BBC News. 6 September 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2024.
  25. ^ Meet The MPs (17 April 2018). E30: Mike Amesbury MP - #MeetTheMPs. Retrieved 30 October 2024 – via YouTube.
  26. ^ Amesbury, Mike (21 October 2014). "Manchester councillor: My secret battle with depression". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mike Amesbury.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for for Weaver Vale
2017–2024 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament
for Runcorn and Helsby
2024–present 		Incumbent
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